Drain cleaning invoice template
Drain cleaning invoice template: attendance, jetting hours, a CCTV survey with its report and root cutting on separate lines, ready for a landlord or insurer.
Templates by industry
- Emergency attendance, blocked foul drain
- High-pressure water jetting, per hour
- CCTV drain survey with written report
- Root cutting in a clay pipe run
Preparation guide
Example workflow
Confirm scope and quantities
Example: reconcile the approval and work record for "Emergency attendance, blocked foul drain" to establish the quantity for this invoice.
Record delivery and acceptance
Check completion for every line, including "Root cutting in a clay pipe run". Deliver the service record, materials used, unresolved issues and the agreed next visit date.
Send the billing record
Send the final charges, delivery reference and due date to the customer, then reconcile payment against the invoice number.
A drain invoice often lands with someone who never saw the job: a landlord, a managing agent or an insurer. It has to say what was blocked, where, what cleared it and what the camera showed afterwards. This template separates the attendance charge from the hours of jetting, gives the CCTV survey its own line with a report, and keeps remedial work such as root cutting apart, so a later quotation for relining can refer back to it.
Fields to prepare
- Deliverables and line items
- Emergency attendance, blocked foul drain, High-pressure water jetting, per hour, CCTV drain survey with written report, Root cutting in a clay pipe run: record the quantities actually supplied and the service period.
- Emergency attendance, blocked foul drain
- Give the time the call came in and the time you arrived; out-of-hours rates should match what you quoted on the phone.
- High-pressure water jetting, per hour
- Bill jetting in the time units you quoted and note the pipe diameter and the length cleared, for example 100 mm over 14 m.
- CCTV drain survey with written report
- Quote the survey report number and the date of the footage, and say whether the client received the video file.
- Root cutting in a clay pipe run
- Give the position of the root ingress as a distance from the access point, so a relining quote can find it again.
- Assets and visits
- Record the asset or area, visit dates, visit count and access arrangements.
- Labor and materials used
- Separate labor hours, quantities of parts or consumables, and work outside the recurring scope.
- Scope to agree
- Name the run you cleared and between which access points, keep jetting time apart from the survey, and attach the survey report or quote its reference.
Before sending
- Does “Emergency attendance, blocked foul drain” show the quantity actually supplied, not the quantity first quoted?
- Is “High-pressure water jetting, per hour” charged at the rate the customer agreed to, with any change approved?
- Is “CCTV drain survey with written report” finished and accepted, or does it belong on a later invoice?
Show 4 more
- Does “Root cutting in a clay pipe run” show the quantity actually supplied, not the quantity first quoted?
- Match extra parts and return-visit charges to approved work.
- Record the initial condition and the post-service checks.
- Match completed work to the order or approval record, and confirm the payment due date and amounts already received.
Worked example: a blocked drain at a rented house
The figures are an example, in dollars, with an example tax rate of 8%. A drain engineer attends a blocked foul drain, jets it for an hour and a half, surveys the run with a camera and cuts out roots found near the boundary.
- Attendance and jetting: the arrival time on the first line, 1.5 hours on the second.
- Survey: one report, its number quoted.
- Root cutting: one line, with the distance from the access point.
| Item | Quantity × unit price | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency attendance, blocked foul drain | 1 × $120.00 | $120.00 |
| High-pressure water jetting, per hour | 1.5 × $110.00 | $165.00 |
| CCTV drain survey with written report | 1 × $240.00 | $240.00 |
| Root cutting in a clay pipe run | 1 × $180.00 | $180.00 |
| Subtotal | $705.00 | |
| Sales tax (8%) | $56.40 | |
| Total | $761.40 | |
The four lines add up to $705.00; with tax at 8% ($56.40) the landlord receives an invoice for $761.40. Relining, if the report recommends it, is quoted separately.
What goes wrong on drain cleaning invoices
- Writing only "drain unblocked" with no location or pipe size.
- Charging a full hour of jetting when the quote was in half hours.
- Billing a survey without sending the report.
- Adding recommended repairs to the invoice before anyone approved them.
What the document must show
These details make an invoice easier to approve and to file.
- Your business name, address and registration or tax number
- The customer's name and address
- Issue date and a document number you do not reuse
- Each line item with quantity, unit price and amount
- Tax shown separately from the net amount, and the total payable
- Payment terms: due date, bank details or accepted payment methods
The sales tax depends on where the work is supplied, so set the rate that applies to your customer before sending.
Official rate reference: US government: state and local taxes
Frequently asked questions
Do I charge if the blockage could not be cleared?
Charge the attendance and the time spent if your terms say so, and write what stopped you, such as a collapsed pipe, so the next step is clear.
Should the CCTV report go with the invoice?
Yes, or quote its reference. The invoice says what the survey cost; the report shows what was found, which is what an insurer or landlord asks for.
The drain serves two houses: whom do I invoice?
The person who booked the job and agreed the price. How neighbours or a utility share the cost is for them to settle, and your report helps them do it.
How do I bill a return visit a few days later?
Raise a new invoice that refers to the first one. If you offered a free return within a period, list the visit at no charge so the history stays complete.
How is tax calculated on this template?
The sales tax depends on where the work is supplied, so set the rate that applies to your customer before sending. The editor keeps the net amount, the tax and the total apart, and recalculates all three when you change a quantity, a unit price or the country setting.
Can I change the layout and colour?
Yes. The editor offers other layouts and a document colour for the printed page. Changing them moves no figure: the lines and totals stay as they are, and the PDF, Word and Excel files follow the layout you pick.
Read next
Reading for the Drain cleaning invoice template: How to write an invoice: a step-by-step example and Invoice numbering: sequences and corrections. The VAT and GST calculator works out the tax line for you.